The 55th annual art show at the Kennebunk River Club is set for today and Monday. The show is an opportunity for local artists to demonstrate their talents.

For more than 50 years, artists from throughout southern Maine have displayed oils, acrylics, watercolors, sculptures and photographs amid the old beams in the historic Casino building, one of the main buildings comprising the Kennebunk River Club, 115 Ocean Ave., Kennebunkport.

The Casino show is a juried exhibition with more than 100 artists contributing work. This year’s judges are Margaret Burgess, curator of European and modern art at the Portland Museum of Art; Stuart Nudelman, founding director of the Ogunquit Photography School; and Carl Schmalz, who has taught at Amherst College and the Eliot O’Hara Watercolor School.

The River Club Casino Art Show will be from 1 to 5 today and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday.

In addition, from 1 to 5 p.m. today, a non-juried art-and-craft show will be held in the Kennebunk River Club Boathouse across the street from the Casino building. It will include prints, paintings, photographs, sculpture, nautical art, jewelry, table decor and other items.

Admission is $2 and includes entry to both shows. All works are for sale.

PORTLAND

Museum of Art buys early work by modernist Zorach

The Portland Museum of Art acquired an oil-on-panel painting by Marguerite Zorach, “Les Baux” (1910), during last weekend’s Barridoff Galleries international art auction. It’s an early Zorach work, painted while the artist was in France.

“Marguerite Zorach played a key role in the creation of the image of Maine,” said the museum’s chief curator, Thomas Denenberg. “This very early, abstract landscape demonstrates her exposure to French avant garde painting in the opening decades of the 20th century and foreshadows the sensibilities that make her one of the great painters of the modern era.”

Overall, the auction was successful, though gallery director Rob Elowitch said many bidders offered less money than the pre-auction estimates. “It was an auction of the highest quality, but it met some real resistance — not atypical of most art auctions these days,” he said.

Barridoff has closed many sales since the auction closed.

Among the highlights was the sale of “Bateaux Bleus (Blue Boats)” by the Chinese artist Zao Wou-ki. The oil-on-canvas painting sold for $144,000 to a telephone bidder.

Drum Shop Portland offers Woodology Clinic Tour

The Drum Shop Portland presents Billy Ward and John Good in the Woodology Clinic Tour at 7 p.m. Aug. 22.

Ward has toured and recorded with Joan Osborne, Carly Simon, Robbie Robertson, The Knack, Ace Frehley, Bill Evans, Yoko Ono and others. He played on B.B. King’s Grammy Award winning album, “80”. All told, he has played drums on more than 60 albums and 60 film soundtracks. His first solo album, “Two Hands Clapping” got a five-star rating in Modern Drummer magazine, which called the record “Album of the Year.” “Voices In My Head” is Ward’s second instructional DVD, which has just been released through DW Drums DVD.

Good has earned the respect of his peers as a “woodologist,” for his knack for finding the most exotic wood specimens on the planet.

The Drum Shop is at 262 St. John St., Portland. Tickets cost $10 in advance and $13 at the door. Call 874-6630 to reserve a spot.

CAPE ELIZABETH

Maine artists to display at Ram Island Farm

Maine artists Mark Hagen and Mark Haltof will exhibit their work Friday to Aug. 29 at Ram Island Farm, Cape Elizabeth. For 30 years, these friends have drawn inspiration from the natural beauty of Maine and particularly Ram Island Farm and the surrounding areas. The works in this show reflect their vision of the Maine coast.

Hagen has shown in group and one-person shows in Maine and Massachusetts. He studied at Boston University as well as the Santa Fe Institute of Art.

Haltof has exhibited in galleries in New York and New England. He studied at the Art Student’s League and the National Academy in New York City and La Grande Chaumiere and Atelier De Gravure in Paris. He also studied at Upper Iowa University, and is represented by Greenhut Galleries in Portland.

OGUNQUIT

Museum of American Art plans auction on Sept. 4

The sixth annual Ogunquit Museum of American Art “Almost Labor Day Auction” will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the museum, 543 Shore Road. The auction is a highlight of the cultural and social season, as well as the significant fund-raiser supporting the museum’s operation. Last year’s auction raised more than $51,000, which enabled the museum to open its 2010 season a month earlier than in past years and to support several specific conservation and exhibition costs.

This year’s signature image is Katherine Doyle’s oil painting “Garden, Late Afternoon.” The auction will include this work, along with several dozen pieces of original art in various media by well-known local, Maine and national artists.

For information about tickets, silent auction donations, program advertising and other details, call 646-4909.

MONHEGAN

Artists Residency plans celebration of 20 years

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Monhegan Artists’ Residency Corp. is hosting a week-long celebration, including an exhibition, “MARC @ 20,” a reception in the residency’s new studio and a presentation by Maine painter William Manning.

“MARC @ 20” features paintings, photographs, prints and sculpture by 35 previous artists-in-residence, including Marguerite Robichaux, Karen Adrienne, Robert Pollien, Connie Hayes, Lynn Travis, Sarah Sorg and Michael Vermette. The show, mounted in a new studio space in the Inn at Fish and Maine, opens at 10 a.m. Saturday, with a reception that afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. The show runs through Aug. 27, with daily hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All work in the exhibition is for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds helping to support future residencies.

The residency will also present “Bill Manning in Conversation” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Monhegan Schoolhouse. Manning has exhibited internationally, in New York and in Maine. Admission is $7 at the door. Proceeds benefit the Monhegan residency program.

The Farnsworth Forum will present a talk by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb at 11 a.m. Friday at the Strand Theatre. Farnsworth Museum education director Roger Dell will interview Gelb about the role of opera in America, the live, high-definition broadcasts of Met operas in movie theaters around the world, and other topics. A Q&A will follow. Admission is $30; $25 for museum members. Tickets are available by calling the Strand at 594-0070, visiting the Strand box office or going to www.rocklandstrand.com.

WEST BATH

Evelyn Dunphy works head to National Arts Club display

The Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club has announced that Evelyn Dunphy of West Bath has had work accepted into its 114th annual open exhibition at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park S., New York. Dunphy’s work received the Edgar Whitney Award for Watermedia in the 112th exhibition. This exhibition of works by artists from all over the United States was by juried admission. It will be open Oct. 5-20.

HARRISON

Bank grant will help fund student acting workshops

Deertrees Theatre & Cultural Center has received a $2,500 grant from Androscoggin Bank. Some of the money will be used for scholarships for student acting workshops. Call the Deertrees box office at 583-6747 for information.

Acting workshops allow children to use their imaginations and creativity in a stage environment, building confidence and allowing for greater interaction among peers.

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